Meta

2017 Giro Rosa Stage 9 – videos, media, more

With Anna van der Breggen holding the maglia rosa since Stage 2, the chances to take it from her were ticking down, and not only were Boels-Dolmans so strong, but Stage 9 looked pretty much a sprinters’ stage – if the sprinters could get up onto the plateau.

Those first climbs split everything up, with all the big sprinting names dropped, it seemed – and we never heard if they came back. A trio of Lauren Kitchen, Anna Trevisi and Malgorzata Jasinska escaped but they didn’t have much of a lead – just over a minute at 10km, but the peloton were charging….

Tomorrow’s final stage has a famous climb – Mount Vesuvius! They’ll ride 9 laps that look pretty flat around Torre del Greco, then hit the volcano for a final climb and fast descent – and if it’s gruppo compatto at the bottom of the climb, I’ll be amazed.

The stage starts at 12:10 CEST (11:10am UK BST, 6:10am USA EDT, 8:10pm Aus AEST) and we can follow the race in all the usual ways.